Data security is an important goal for a wide variety of industries. For corporations, this data may contain sensitive customer information. For the government, this data may contain military secrets. Typical methods for protecting this data include secure systems. An example of a secure system is a computer that has been put through some type of certification process or inspection that provides a reasonable assurance that any data entered into, or received from this particular computer is protected from access by unauthorized users, and can be considered secure.
Because of additional costs and overhead associated with using a secure system, users often split their work between secure and non-secure systems. For example, a user may use the secure computer when sending intra-company emails, but may prefer to use the non-secure computer to send personal emails or use the internet because the secure system may use a specialized operating system that may not support all of the applications available for the non-secure system. Further, an employer may wish to ensure the integrity of the secure system by limiting the use of the secure system to highly sensitive data only.
While keeping separate secure and non-secure computer systems is acceptable for desktop computers in office environments where space and weight are not concerns, it is generally unacceptable for handheld or mobile computer users. A user of a handheld computer may be unwilling to carry separate secure and non-secure handheld computers.
Therefore what is needed is a way to combine a secure and non-secure system on a single handheld communications device.